Strong mother's son finds reasons to run

Courtesy of Barker family Zach Barker's mom, Debbie, was paralyzed giving birth to Zach, who is a standout cross country runner at Weiser. Handout photo

He loves everything about it. The miles, the physical strain on his 16-year-old body. The practice runs, the races, the competition. The time with his teammates.

Zach Barker isn't sure where it all comes from.

It couldn't have been genetic; no one in his family was ever heavily involved in distance running. He was never forced into the sport. He wasn't inspired by a book or a movie or anything on television.

What could it be?

Something was always pushing Barker toward running. He remembers having bigger lungs than the other kids on his third-grade soccer team. He remembers being drawn to track back in seventh grade, just for something to do in the spring.

What could it be?

As a sophomore last year Barker led Conrad Weiser to its first conference cross country crown in 35 years. This fall he helped Weiser win its first district title in program history by taking the silver at the District 3-AAA meet.

What could it be?

Could it have something to do with the woman who was waiting for him near the finish line Oct. 22 at Hershey, the one person at the district meet who couldn't run?

"I'm just grateful that I can get up and run," Barker said. "It's my favorite thing to do. I'm extremely lucky."

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Debbie and Steve Barker were both 22 and full of dreams. They'd met at Geneva College in Beaver County, gotten married and moved to a row home in Reading, where Steve was working as an electrical engineer.

Zach came along one year into the marriage. The delivery went smoothly, for the most part. Debbie was a healthy young woman who had never been seriously ill before. She even walked into the hospital.

One hiccup was the epidural, which took a few tries before it could be properly injected into Debbie's spine.

Debbie left the hospital with Zach two days later, but she still felt numb below the waist, almost as if she'd gone to get a tooth drilled at the dentist and the Novocain hadn't worn off.

"From the very first day it was extremely numb from the waist down," she said. "It just kept getting worse."

For two months it became increasingly difficult for Debbie to walk or even stand. She collapsed a few times while holding Zach and couldn't get up off the floor.

Afraid of hurting her newborn, Debbie spent most of those first two months lying with Zach on the couch, unsure of what was happening to her legs. Eight weeks after the delivery she was completely paralyzed from the waist down.

Debbie was finally sent to Columbia University Hospital. Doctors discovered that she was born with two arteriovenous malformations (AVMs), which were basically masses of blood vessels tangled around her spinal cord.

AVMs are more commonly found in the brain and are known to cause aneurisms. Doctors never had any reason to suspect Debbie's condition due to her excellent prior health.

Debbie's paralysis was either a result of the epidural going into an aneurism, by extra blood flow caused by the pregnancy or by a combination of both. Doctors at Columbia operated on Debbie in an attempt to block the blood flow to the AVMs, but the paralysis has never reversed.

"I was in shock," she said. "I was 22, healthy, having my first baby. You have all these dreams. This wasn't one of them."

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Debbie was sent from Columbia to Hershey Medical Center for a three-month rehabilitation program. It was the toughest three months of her life.

After spending the first two months almost constantly holding her son, Debbie had to be separated from Zach until she could learn how to care for him from a wheelchair. Steve brought him to Hershey for visits four days out of the week, and Debbie would cry uncontrollably after those few hours were up.

"I was scared," she said. "Terrified. I was upset because they took me away from my baby. But I just had to find the strength to get through it because I wanted to get home and take care of him."

That became the carrot that kept her charging forward, that yearning to get out of the hospital and take care of Zach. That's what got her through all those hours of learning to get in and out of the chair, of learning to dress and undress herself, of learning to cook and clean and vacuum without the use of her legs.

"It gave her real incentive to get out of there," said Steve, who looked after Zach at night after work, while volunteers from the Barkers' church helped out during the day.

During those three months in Hershey, Debbie decided there wouldn't be time to feel sorry for herself. Life would be different, but she could still be a wife and a mother.

"I just decided from the very beginning that I was going to do whatever it took," Debbie said. "That's been my attitude always."

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Debbie Barker stands out at her son's cross country meets, and not just because of the wheelchair. There's a radiance in her personality that's unmistakable.

People who know her often forget she's paralyzed. Zach has found himself slapping his mom on the knee to get her attention. A friend accidentally yelled at her once for parking in a handicap spot.

"She's the strongest and probably the most courageous person I know," Steve said. "While it hasn't necessarily been a picnic, she's gotten through it and she's probably more energetic than she was before."

When Zach was 5, the Barkers adopted a second son, Alex, from Romania. Despite being told she'd never be able to have children again, Debbie became pregnant a year after adopting Alex and gave birth to a daughter, Morgan, via C-section.

She's always avoided asking her children for help, though occasionally she needs a hand. When Zach was younger, for example, Debbie would lift him onto her lap so he could reach items on shelves at the grocery store.

In addition to caring for three children, Debbie works as a substitute teacher at Wyomissing Hills Elementary Center. She's also spoken publicly about her handicap for church groups and college classes.

Debbie even has a sense of humor about her condition. She's joked about rigging the motor on her wheelchair so she can be the "pace car" for the cross country team.

"She's the only person I know who can go through that," Zach said, "and still wake up each morning, excited and happy about life."

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Zach and Debbie share a special bond. Zach looks up to his mother, while Debbie says she'd be proud of her son, even if he finished last in every meet.

There's no sense of guilt on Zach's part for what happened over 16 years ago - and no sense of resentment from Debbie toward her son.

"She always tried to tell me that it wasn't my fault," Zach said. "I feel bad about it, but I don't feel guilty about it because I couldn't really do anything about it."

Zach has grown into a straight-A student with a quiet maturity. While answering questions after a meet last month at Muhlenberg he asked why his teammates weren't also being interviewed.

That somewhat guarded demeanor masks a unique personality, which usually comes out when he's around friends.

Like trying to down an entire gallon of milk in an hour, then spinning in a circle while he vomits. Or returning from long distance runs with an old baseball, a Frisbee or soggy stuffed animal.

Zach was the runner-up at the last two Berks Conference runs. His second-place finish Oct. 22 at Hershey was the county's best District 3-AAA boys performance in 16 years. Saturday he's shooting for top five at the state run.

"I always tell him that if I was given the choice to walk and not have him or be paralyzed and have him, I'd pick paralysis every time," Debbie said. "He's so worth it. He's a great kid, and not just because he can run fast."

So what could it be?

Did the itch to run have anything to do with his mother, from growing up wishing she could get out of that chair? Did her grit and determination trickle down to him?

Maybe it's not that dramatic. But regardless of what led him to the sport, Zach Barker is running enough miles for two lives.

"Sometimes I think about it, that I'm lucky just to be able to go and run every day," he said. "I know she can't walk, and that's extremely painful for her, mentally.

"It just makes me thankful that I can get up and run each day. I'm thankful for her, that she can get up and support me."